Author's note: Slayer will be getting a new, ORIGINAL, weapon in this chapter. I think you guys will like it.

As the transport headed for the mission site, Winter briefed Slayer and Julius on what was going to happen.

"There's high Grimm activity around the facility, but not in the air" she explained, "so we'll be dropping in on top of the lab itself. There's a landing platform that should be easy for this ship to reach. We'll get in from there, then find the source of the energy surges we've been detecting and either contain it or destroy it."

"How are we gonna find the energy source?" Julius asked.

Winter handed each them a tracker device: "These are locked on to the energy's signature. It should lead us to where the energy is most concentrated."

"That'll work." Slayer said.

"And if any Grimm show their faces," Julius said, "We send em out the fun way."

"Oh, yeah, we will," Slayer said, high-fiving Julius. Winter rolled her eyes in amusement.

"I appreciate your dedication to fighting the Grimm, but we need to focus on the mission at hand, though I have no doubt that fighting Grimm will be inevitable.'

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Julius said.

"How on earth did you get along with my sister?" Winter asked.

"That is a very complicated story, and we didn't start out as friends AT ALL, but we befriended each other around last semester. I work with her team a lot, so that was part of the reason, but we also have recently partnered together as a music duo."

"Music?"

"I play music, she sings. We both write the songs. We're only working on one right now, but it's a start."

"I see."

"Heads up," the pilot called over, "We're approaching the drop zone."

"Open doors," Winter said. Then, turning to Julius and Slayer, "Get ready."

Julius and Slayer stood up and readied their guns. A few minutes later, the bay doors opened out to the platform of the facility, and, once Julius donned his new sunglasses (a gift courtesy of Coco), the three passengers jumped out. The second they hit the floor, they ran for the door, getting inside before any Grimm could see them. Using the flashlight on his helmet, Slayer found the nearest control switch and was able to get the lights back on.

"Alright, we're inside," Julius said, "Now what?"

Winter held up one of the trackers, "Now, we find what's causing all this chaos."

Slayer looked around at his surroundings; there were multiple bloodstains and a few dead bodies of Atlesian soldiers and scientists, but also White Fang soldiers as well: "Something about all this doesn't feel right. We need to be careful."

"I don't sense anything right now," Winter said, "But if something is wrong, I would like to know soon. Slayer, lead the way."

Slayer held out his shotgun in front of him, and motioning with his hand, began leading Winter and Julius, both with their weapons drawn, through the maze of hallways. Winter held the tracker with her free hand, telling the others which way to go. As they walked, Julius noticed slash marks in the walls; they were similar to the ones he saw at the murder scene of the White Fang soldiers. He got Winter's attention and pointed to them.

"Last place I saw marks like that was at a crime scene in Vale," he said, "Five White Fang soldiers were murdered."

Winter narrowed her eyes: "In that case, we need to be extra careful."

They continued for a few more minutes, when Slayer suddenly put his hand up, motioning for them to stop.

"Something's not right." He said.

"Grimm?" Julius asked, waving his pistols around.

"No. Worse."

Suddenly, something dropped down on top of Slayer and tried to tear into him, only for Winter to rush up and stab it through the head with her rapier. As the creature fell, the three inspected the body; it was an orange creature that looked nothing like a Grimm. However, it did vanish a few moments after its death, just like a Grimm.

"Well, this isn't good." Slayer said.

"Why? What was that?" Julius asked.

"That was an Imp."

"A what?"

"I'll explain later. Right now we need to keep moving. And we need to hurry."

The three then moved a brisker pace through. Slayer looked more tense, waving his gun around much faster than before; it was clear he was anticipating another attack. They didn't get any further attacks from an Imp, though there was the occasional Beowulf or Lancer Grimm that appeared; they were quickly dealt with. However, Julius soon realized that the farther they went, the more frequent the attacks became.

"We must be getting close," he said, "The Grimm are becoming more concentrated."

Winter checked her tracker: "We're close, alright, and I've begun to notice the Grimm becoming more frequent as well. Let's take a rest for a bit to plan out our next move."

Slayer was able to pry open the door to an abandoned room, allowing the three inside. As they looked around, they noticed the room was a lab of some kind. On the center table was a large gun of some kind. It looked similar to the Heavy assault cannon, but there was a container of some weird orange substance attached to it. A sperate barrel attachment lay next to it.

"What is that?" Julius asked.

"I don't know," Slayer said, "but I want it."

He walked over to it and looked at the data file on the monitor.

"'Heavy Battle Torch'" he read, "' Prototype weapon, engineered to harness concentrated fire dust and weaponize it in two different forms. One barrel fires bursts of flame, while the other fires a continued, concentrated stream of fire. Test of the weapon on Grimm reveal that both attack mods inflict burn wounds that cause the affected area of the target to, for lack of better word, melt away. The stream mod also seems to burn a hole right through most tough armors, and even steel. Effectiveness against Hard Light Dust shields is yet to be determined.'"

Julius whistled in admiration: "Now THAT'S kickass."

"I am SO taking this," Slayer agreed, grabbing the weapon off of its stand, grabbing the other barrel mod with it.

Meanwhile, Winter had finished setting up a holographic map, and mow motioned for Julius and Slayer to come over.

"Okay, so we're only a few turns away from reaching the room the source of this energy is located," she said, however, after I accessed the scanners in those halls, I've detected a HIGH amount of Grimm in the area. Much higher than what we've been dealing with so far."

"Why would so many Grimm stay in this one spot?" Slayer asked.

"If I had to guess," Julius said, "I'd say they're protecting something."

"That's because they are," said a voice. The tree whipped around, weapons drawn, to face Hector as he materialized in the doorway.

"Relax, I'm on your side," he said, "I've been scouting around that area. There's something behind that door that's commanding them."

Winter say the White Fang mask Hector wore and narrowed her eyes, demanding, "Who are you?"

"My name's Hector. I'm a FORMER White Fang soldier. Now, I'm just on my own."

"How did you get past all the Grimm?" Julius asked.

Hector answered by turning invisible for a few moments, then reappeared, explaining, "My semblance is Stealth. I can sneak past just about anything unseen. Useful for sneak attacks."

"Were you spying on us?"

Hector smirked: "Only for a little bit. Your fighting isn't exactly stealthy."

"Well, we weren't expecting to see anyone else here," Winter said.

Hector shrugged: "Oh well. Anyways, you guys are going to need one hell of a plan and some serious firepower if you want to get into that room."

Slayer raised the Torch: "Oh, we have the power, all right."

"He's right though," Winter said, "We do need a plan." Then, turning to Hector, "You can join us if you want, since you seem to know the area better than me."

Hector nodded and walked over to the holographic display of the hallways, studying the layout.

"So," Julius said, "What've you got for us?"

"There's a large group of Grimm along with some other weird creatures right in front of the door. I reckon about 80, tops." Hector said, "However, there's also a few smaller groups of about 15 or so in each of the surrounding halls."

"With a layout like that," Slayer said, "It's pretty obvious something's controlling them."

"Oh, yeah, there is."

"So, how do you plan on getting in?" Winter said.

"It's quite simple, really." Hector said, "The Grimm are easy pickings, obviously, but what I've noticed is that those other creatures are really prone to fighting each other if aggravated enough. My plan is to cause a distraction by angering some of those creatures into fighting each other, hopefully catching a few Grimm in the crossfire. While they're tearing each other apart, we slip past, killing anyone who gets too close, and fight whatever's left in front of the door."

"Sounds straightforward enough," Julius said, "I'm in."

"As long as I get to test this bad boy out," Slayer said, lifting the Torch up, "I don't care what happens. Besides, it's pretty comical when the other creatures fight each other."

Julius looked to Winter: "It's your operation, so it's your call."

Winter looked off intently for a few moments as she thought to herself; she wasn't used to getting advice from a stranger, especially a White Fang soldier, former or not. However, considering the concentration of Grimm, along with the appearance of these new Imp creatures, significantly decreased her options. Eventually, she decided it might be worth a shot; it may be the only shot they would get. She turned to Hector.

"Alright, we'll go with your plan. I hope it works." She said.

Hector cracked his knuckles and smiled, revealing inhumanly sharp teeth.

"Oh, don't worry," he said, "it will."

Author's note: The Heavy Battle Torch is a weapon of my own creation. Slayer will get other new weapons as the story progresses, but this will be the first for now.